Mailbox Monday, June 30, 2014

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks at my house. We went to the Dominican Republic for 4 days to see one of my very closest friends get married (she had a gorgeous ceremony!). When we got home we were immediately informed that my 77-year-old grandmother had been in the hospital with pneumonia since the day we left for the DR. So it’s been insane going back and forth between home and where she’s at (about an hour away). They cleared up the pneumonia but she’s too weak to take care of herself at home. So we had to put her in a nursing home rehab facility so she can get the help she needs in order to get her back to where she can live at home again. Needless to say, I’ve been slightly stressed out about everything going on. So my husband surprised me one day with a spontaneous trip to my absolute favorite used book store 2 hours away! And a little clothes shopping too 🙂 But here’s the five books I picked up (for $5.78 … see why it’s my favorite place!?!)

And then I got one book for review, from Blogging for Books:

Noa P. Singleton never spoke a word in her own defense throughout a brief trial that ended with a jury finding her guilty of first-degree murder. Ten years later, she sits on death row in a maximum-security penitentiary, just six months away from her execution date.

Meanwhile, Marlene Dixon, a high-powered Philadelphia attorney who is also the mother of the woman Noa was imprisoned for killing, shows up for a visit. She claims to have changed her mind about the death penalty and will do everything in her considerable power to convince the governor to commute Noa’s sentence in return for the one thing Noa can trade: her story. Marlene wants to understand the events that led to her daughter’s death – events that only Noa knows of and has never shared. Inextricably linked by murder but with very different goals, Noa and Marlene wrestle with the sentences life itself can impose while they confront the best and worst of what makes us human.